Southern Research last year announced the construction of a new research facility, using bond funding it received from the City of Birmingham in 2009. Also last year, the Daniel Foundation offered Southern Research a Challenge
Grant of $300,000 and the Alabama Power Foundation matched it. Funds from the foundations will also go to recruiting new engineers and help expand new research areas and programs.

"We are very grateful for these gifts from the Daniel Foundation and Alabama Power Foundation, and are encouraged by their desire to support the work we do," John A. "Jack" Secrist III, president and CEO of Southern Research, said in a statement. "We pride ourselves in being operationally self-sustaining. However, one of our greatest challenges is being able to attract and retain top talent in high-technology disciplines in Birmingham. Doing so requires state-of-the-art office and laboratory facilities that allow senior engineers and scientists the ability to develop and grow new program areas."

Endowments held by Southern Research from Alabama Power Foundation, the Hess Family and the Ingalls Family are are used mainly to help newly-hired scientists on Southern Research's Birmingham campus establish their labs in order to conduct research in cancer, infectious diseases, and disorders and diseases of the nervous system.